Tags
African liberation, Amilcar Cabral, Angola, Che Guevara Africa, Che Guevara Congo, Communism in Africa, Cuba in Africa, Friends of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Victor Dreke
Post-screening Remarks. The Executive Director of Friends of the Congo is on the far right.
Friends of the Congo continues to earn accolades. Tonight at Cafe Arte they screened the Cuba: An African Odyssey film, of which snippets were shown at their Cuba to Kuba event that I reviewed last week. Due to a combination of a late start and the film’s length, the evening culminated with only a viewing of the first half of the film complete.
The documentary contains very interesting footage from the era as well as insightful interviews with prominent figures from various African countries, Cuba, the Soviet Union, and the US (European figures are significantly less prominent). It is certainly worth viewing, though I would say that it’s scope is probably too ambitious (there was an attempt to introduce viewers to Amilcar Cabral in some depth, which I felt was superficial and a bit of a flop). In particular, I would have liked to hear more about Che’s 8 country Africa tour in 1964 and his very warm reception in revolutionary Congo – Brazzaville.
The first part of the film recounts Che Guevara’s failed mission in the Congo and Cuba’s less explicit (but perhaps more successful) military assistance to Guinea-Bissau, which involved several of the same personnel who served with Che in the Congo (such as the ubiquitous Victor Dreke). The second part, to be screened by Friends of the Congo at a later date, apparently explores Cuba’s lengthier and more substantial role in Angola.
Anyone know what the Cuban – Angolan relationship is like these days?
Afterwords, I nodded my head to some African tunes for a few minutes at the nearby Bukom Cafe. I have to say that given its location, it amazes me how heavily West African the clientele is there (although similar scenarios hold true for several nearby Ethiopian establishments).
Africa in DC 
Good Evening,
I hope this email finds you well.
It was a pleasure putting a face to Africa in DC on Friday during the Friends of the Congo film screening. I hope you had a wonderful weekend!
I did have a question for you; is there any way I can get a notice of events taking place in DC? I would like to start attending some events.
And thank you for mentioning YAP under your ‘Guide Around Town’…I hope you are on our mailing list.
Best.
Ana
On Sat, Jun 1, 2013 at 12:08 AM, Africa in DC
It was great to meet you too, are you one of the YAP hosts? I am indeed on the list, although I haven’t made it to an event for a few months. The best place to find weekly African events may be the blog of the Wilson Center:
http://africaupclose.wilsoncenter.org/category/blog-columns/weekly-events/
However, this does not include any cultural stuff. If any readers are interested in putting together something for me on a regular basis, I’d be glad to post it.